Property Taxes

News about Property Taxes, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jan. 30, 2015

Hundreds of Detroit residents gather at city's Cobo Center to voice arguments against foreclosure notices that could force them from their homes; Wayne County officials note that some 62,000 Detroit homes will be subject to foreclosure in 2015 due to unpaid taxes; scene at convention hall paints desperately gloomy portrait of city's fortunes, even as leaders attempt to institute revivals plans in wake of bankruptcy. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Pontassieve Journal; Italy's deepening financial crisis has brought steep rise in property taxes on medieval-era estates that pepper country's landscape, and owners have been forced to abandon or sell properties that have been in families for centuries; Torre a Decima castle in Pontassieve, seated above Tuscany's Chianti hills, is but one example of dramatic turn in Italy's inherited-wealth real estate market. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

The Appraisal column; residents of Scarsdale, NY, are appealing their property tax assessments, calling them unfair and suggesting that they were inflated to raise money. MORE

Dec. 31, 2014

Federal prosecutors and FBI are working to determine why New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver received substantial payments from Goldberg & Iryami, law firm that seeks reductions in real estate taxes on behalf of its clients; records reveal that controversial New York City landlord Baruch Singer, who has ties to Silver, used law firm to seek such tax reductions. MORE

Nov. 19, 2014

Representatives of actor Robert De Niro reach settlement with town of Gardiner, NY, over value of his 98-acre property there; property's $6 million assessment has been in dispute for three years, leading to lengthy court case about property taxes. MORE

Nov. 4, 2014

Appraisal column on Robert De Niro’s challenge to his $6 million property assessment in Gardiner, NY, in Ulster County, 75 miles north of Manhattan; it has turned into a grinding court battle that has cost the town more in legal fees than it stands to win; Riverside Trust, legal entity that owns the property for the De Niro family, has shown no inclination to back down. MORE

Oct. 26, 2014

Big Deal column observes that many well-heeled New Yorkers are frustrated that while a large share of their income goes to taxes of all kinds, their non-New Yorker neighbors down the street pay a comparatively minuscule amount in property taxes; Census Bureau tracks vacancy rates to find out who lives in Manhattan full time and try to discern who merits tax abatement. MORE

Jun. 10, 2014

Illinois Gov Pat Quinn signs legislation to help Chicago reduce pension shortfall but urges Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council not to raise property taxes for additional revenues; law would nearly eliminate the $9.4 billion shortfall by cutting benefits and increasing contribution for the city and employees. MORE

Apr. 2, 2014

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration has begun an urgent push to require some city workers to pay more for their retirement benefits and to raise property taxes; moves are intended to address one of the most poorly funded pension systems among the nation's major cities. MORE

Mar. 19, 2014

Mar. 15, 2014

New York lawmakers, in rare bipartisan rebuke, reject Gov Andrew M Cuomo's plan to temporarily freeze property taxes for two years by giving rebates to homeowners; complain that proposal, one of centerpieces of Cuomo's proposed budget, could allow governor to exert undue influence on municipal and school budgets and might disproportionately benefit taxpayers in wealthy communities. MORE

Mar. 4, 2014

Cities that have worked for years to attract young professionals are experimenting with ways to protect working- and lower-middle class homeowners threatened by gentrification; initiatives are centered on reducing or freezing property taxes for such homeowners in an effort to promote neighborhood stability, preserve character and provide a dividend of sorts to those who have stayed through hard times. MORE

Nov. 6, 2013

Eduardo Porter Economic Scene column observes that more than half of funding for many school districts comes from local property taxes, which skews the playing field between wealthy and poor students early on; points out federal government provides only about 14 percent of money for schools. MORE

Nov. 1, 2013

Property taxes in Westchester County, NY, are among nation's highest, and are pushing aside other issues in race for county executive; 2010 study by Forbes shows median tax bill for county is $8,404 annually, seven times national average. MORE

Jun. 25, 2013

Michael Powell Gotham column observes that tax breaks for luxury residential developers in New York are costing city $1.1 billion; says that cumulatively, exempted property taxes could keep the city's libraries open for a sixth day each week and scores lawmakers who are not questioning the scope of such exemptions. MORE

May. 27, 2013

Most of Greece's land transactions records are still handwritten in ledgers, imprecise system that has resulted in competing land claims and government's inability to collect property taxes; experts cite country's lack of proper land registry as one of biggest impediments to working its way out of major economic crisis. MORE

Mar. 26, 2013

Reassessment of property values in Newark shows that many commercial sites have doubled in value, with appreciation of some commercial properties outpacing that of office space in Midtown Manhattan; jump in land assessments has shocked Newark businesses, generating such a strong outcry that Mayor Cory A Booker describes situation as a crisis. MORE

Mar. 26, 2013

Tens of thousands of co-op and condominium owners across New York City are facing tax increase in 2013 after new law ending abatements for people who own their co-ops and condos through trusts and LLCs. MORE

Feb. 21, 2013

New York State teachers’ union files lawsuit challenging constitutionality of state's cap on annual increases in local property taxes, one of Gov Andrew M Cuomo’s signature measures; lawsuit asserts that tax cap interferes with local control of schools, and that requirement that 60 percent of voters support any override of the limit dilutes voting power of those who favor exceeding the cap. MORE

Feb. 14, 2013

New York City Council Speaker Christine C Quinn, in her annual State of the City address, calls for a 30-year cap on real estate taxes for landlords who set aside 20 percent of their apartments for below-market rents. MORE

Feb. 13, 2013

Jim Dwyer About New York column on city's invisible real estate deals that one day become visible and then utterly bewildering; cites agreement with Madison Square Garden which has not paid any property taxes for 31 years; also notes Marriott Marquis in Times Square will only pay dime on the dollar of actual value of its land. MORE

Jan. 30, 2013

Residents of Georgia's historic Sapelo Island win a temporary reprieve from 2012 increase in property taxes that went as high as 1,000 percent; McIntosh County's Board of Equalization has ordered a reassessment of property values after discovery of ordinance prohibiting any such tax increases if they would force removal of an indigenous population. MORE

Jan. 25, 2013

Localities across New York region, already reeling from cost of cleaning up property damage from Hurricane Sandy, are confronting prospect of precipitous decline in property tax revenues as housing values drop; housing reassessments may pose threat to ability to rebuild. MORE

Nov. 30, 2012

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg unveils two tax initiatives intended to give owners of severely damaged properties some financial breathing room as they struggle to recover from Hurricane Sandy; Gov Andrew M Cuomo also announces an emergency regulation shortening the period in which an insurance adjuster must inspect a claim, hoping to offer relief for those with repair concerns in the wake of the storm. MORE

Nov. 14, 2012

Gov Chris Christie, a Republican who has pushed aggressively for cutting and capping taxes in New Jersey during his three years in office, says that people who live in towns destroyed by Hurricane Sandy are likely to pay higher taxes to help rebuild; says that municipalities will be allowed to raise property taxes more than the 2 percent limit that he signed into law in 2010 to cover costs brought on by the storm. MORE

Oct. 18, 2012

Los Angeles County assessor John Noguez and top aide and campaign contributor are arrested on charges of conspiracy, bribery and corruption in an investigation into influence peddling and slashing of property taxes for political allies. MORE

Oct. 16, 2012

Elizabeth A Harris The Appraisal column notes, because of old state law mandating use of rental data, many luxury apartments in New York City have modest tax rates; cites apartments at 15 Central Park West that city valued at $322 per square foot, when $7,813 was average price per square foot for such apartments sold over past 18 months. MORE

Sep. 27, 2012

Editorial laments that the Geechee people, of Hog Hammock on Sapelo Island off Georgia, must fight for their historic landhold in the face of a sudden burst of real estate taxes from local government; urges state and local official to do more keep the hard-pressed Geechees on their land. MORE

Sep. 26, 2012

Stiff county property tax increases are forcing the 50 Creole-speaking descendants of slaves on Sapelo Island, Ga, who identify themselves as saltwater Geechees, to worry that they will lose their homes and their fragile community will finally succumb to cultural erosion. MORE

Aug. 9, 2012

Voters in three Michigan counties agree to institute a property tax increase earmarked specifically for the Detroit Institute of Arts, saving it from devastating budget cuts. MORE

Aug. 2, 2012

Grand jury report issues an unusual report, recommending a series of 'desperately needed' changes to New York City's property tax system, including civil sanctions and stiffer penalties for landlords who file false documents and information; jury, which issued report after handing down indictments in three cases, suggests property tax evasion may be widespread in the city. MORE

Jun. 13, 2012

North Dakota voters reject a constitutional amendment to abolish the property tax, turning aside arguments by advocates of the measure who say the tax has proved inconsistent and is in conflict with the basic concept of property ownership. MORE

Jun. 12, 2012

North Dakota's upcoming election includes a measure that, if approved by voters, will abolish the property tax entirely; controversial amendment was put forward by group arguing that the tax is unpredictable and inconsistent and not needed in a state that, in part due to wildly successful oil drilling, carries a budget reserve. MORE

May. 27, 2012

Editorial criticizes the Republicans controlling the New York State Senate for not giving a number of county governments the authority to raise their local sales taxes; contends that the higher taxes are necessary because county governments must cope with lower revenues and additional demands imposed by the recession, as well as the ill-conceived property tax cap imposed by Gov Andrew Cuomo and legislators in 2011. MORE

May. 17, 2012

New York State voters overwhelmingly approve their school districts' annual budgets, the first to be delivered under a new cap on property taxes for schools; roughly 92 percent of school boards produced budgets within the cap, which limits the total increase in tax dollars that can be collected. MORE

Apr. 4, 2012

Formal appeals of of tax assessments known as tax certiorari, or tax certs, raise major questions for some New York State municipalities that are borrowing money to pay refunds yet refusing periodic reassessments; property owners say refunds are merely a reward for assessments that can be inaccurate. MORE

Apr. 3, 2012

Irish anti-austerity protesters claim victory after the government acknowledges that around 50 percent of the country's estimated 1.6 million homeowners failed to pay a new, flat-rate $133 property tax by the March 31 deadline. MORE

Mar. 20, 2012

Efforts to boycott a property tax are gaining strength among Ireland's older residents, who are fed up with a flat economy and endless budget cuts; Irish government dismisses talk that the boycott is gathering strength, but the incipient tax revolt shows that the Irish, who have been stoic about austerity measures, are losing their patience. MORE

Feb. 17, 2012

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s government announces that it will change Italian law to ensure that the Roman Catholic Church pays property tax on the parts of its buildings used for commercial ends. MORE

Nov. 28, 2011

Growing resentment is settling over many parts of Greece as the first due dates approach on the government's novel idea of linking a new property tax to electric bills; many Greeks are considering not paying the tax, which makes no exceptions for the unemployed or the elderly, and there are pockets of resistance to the idea popping up across the country. MORE

Nov. 13, 2011

Owners of New York City condos built under the 421a tax exemption program, which encouraged development of underused or unused land by drastically reducing property taxes for a set amount of time, are bracing for the day their 421a exemptions end, and their now-low monthly real estate taxes surge. MORE

Oct. 25, 2011

Dozens of town and county boards across New York State are overriding, or proposing to override much-heralded cap on property taxes championed by Gov Andrew M Cuomo; communities, which include affluent New York City suburbs, are declaring that they cannot restrain the growth of property taxes and still comply with a variety of state-mandated programs while providing the services residents expect. MORE

Wayne County officials have warned that 62,000 Detroit properties are subject to foreclosure, and hundreds of residents who are behind on their property taxes and face foreclosure sought help to save their homes.